Dominique-René de Lerma: "I wonder what might be the story if 'Troubled island', as an example, had secured its proper place"

[Africa: Piano Music of William Grant Still; Denver Oldham, piano; Koch 3 7084 2H1 (1991)]

Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, whose website is http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com, is a leading Musicologist who has specialized in Composers of African Descent for four decades. He is principal advisor to AfriClassical.com, and compiled the comprehensive Works List for William Grant Still (1895-1978) which is featured at the website. He adds his thoughts to the discussion about William Grant Still and the music of George Gershwin:

“Had Black singers ever rejected being cast in Porgy and Bess the work might never have been performed, but it also has to be admitted that many of these might have had less of a career. I don't suggest that P&B sucked out all the oxygen, yet I wonder what might be the story if Troubled island, as an example, had secured its proper place in the repertoire. It might yet; it certainly deserves a major production -- and this might be forthcoming (see Judy Still's words below) [Prior Post]!

“Still's just concern for an appropriate representation of Black dignity reminds me of a comment Joe Eubanks made when he was about to take a year off from the faculty at Morgan for the Radio City production: He said very correctly that P&B was not at all within in him, that he was much more the king in Verdi's Don Carlo. He did, of course, accept the gig, just as he had done when the show toured Europe (with Leontyne Price and Bill Warfield).

"Elizabeth Greenfield, Sisserietta Jones, and Marian Anderson were lucky never to have been cast in the work. Can we picture Roland Hayes as Sportin' Life? This is not to say that I do not regard P&B as a major work. How might WGS have reacted to the rappers?"

Comments by email:

Randye Jones [Soprano and Researcher with website on Black Classical Vocal Music, http://www.randyejones.com/]
Greetings! I posted the forwarded noticed to the Facebook group on African American Art Song that Darryl Taylor runs and was stunned at the huge amount of discussion it generated, over 50 posts the last time I looked. My perspective without reading a convincing argument for such a boycott is to take a different tactic: to encourage colleagues to explore every option available to purchase, perform, and study works by African American composers. However, I also can't help but hope that these works become more readily available and not limited to one, or no, source. Randye

Judith Anne Still
The best argument for not doing Gershwin is that many a Black composer in Harlem died in poverty because good-old-George stole his music, while Gershwin made millions from his thefts. Then, PORGY is demeaning and unflattering, and it is now in the public domain, yet the Gershwin estate still takes money from people for performances. Lastly, a performer who does PORGY is dealing with stolen property. My beef is that Still's operas are not performed because PORGY is always done "instead of."

Dominique-René de Lerma Reviews 'Libera': 'A warm welcome for a debut recording'

[From TOP: Marlissa Hudson, Peter Henderson and Fred Onovwerosuoke followed by Libera: Works by Bonds, Hayes, Mendelssohn, Onovwerosuoke and Puccini; Marlissa Hudson, soprano; Peter Henderson, pianist; AMP Records AGCD 2106 (47:45)]

Dominique-René de Lerma, whose website is http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com, writes this review of the new CD Libera, AMP Records AGCD 2106:

A warm welcome for a debut recording.

Bonds, Margaret. 3 Dream portraits. 1. Minstrel man. (2:04).

Bonds, Margaret. He's got the whole world in his hands (2:33).

Hayes, Mark. I feel the spirit moving (2:46).

Hayes, Mark. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho (2:43).

Hayes, Mark. Give me Jesus (4:08).

Hayes, Mark. There is a balm in Gilead (4:04).

Mendelssohn, Felix. Hear ye, Israel, from Elijah (5:35).

Onovwerosuoke, Fred. 12 African songs. Duniya [Mystic universe] (2:40);

Esato [Eight] (4:15); Herero folktales (5:24); Luwah [Bitter tears] (3:47);

Ne nkansu [Healing dance] (2:17); Ngulu kamba [Lullaby] (3:00).

Puccini, Giacomo. La canzona di Doretta, from La rondine (2:25).

AGCD 2106 (2010, Libera). African Music Publishers (order by phone: 314-652-6800; by email: amp@africanarts.org; online: cdbaby.com, amazon.com). Credit card via PayPal.

At first glance, it will be thought this is an odd mixture of works: one Italian opera aria, one from a Mendelssohn oratorio, a few African American spirituals, and a set of African works. And it is a strange accumulation, but it works. The soprano, from St. Louis, has been visible on the web since 2006, thanks to Randye Jones' “Future Afrocentric voices” (http://www.afrovoices.com/futurevoices.html). At that time Ms Hudson had just begun working on her B.A. degree in music and sociology at Duke University. It would be six more years before she graduated from the Peabody Conservatory with her M.M. Degree. Within two years she had begun notable engagements principally back home in St. Louis, which has since only intensified. By 2010, for example, she had been heard as soloist on either coast, with a repertoire including Bach, Rachmaninoff, Verdi, Richard Strauss and, of course, Gershwin (it seems that Roland Hayes and Marian Anderson were the only Black singers without some P&B experience, maybe only because they were born in the 19th century). Ms Hudson was also selected to sing at the ceremonies to commemorate the establishment of the Ben Holt Memorial Chapter of the National Association of Negro Musicians, in Washington D.C.

As her repertoire will suggest, she is a lyric soprano and, as this CD debut will indicate, her performances bear evidence that, fully understanding the textual nuances, she readily communicates these even to a listener not familiar with the language. This elevates the marvelous songs of Dr. Onovwerosuoke past being just beautiful tunes. She is aided toward that goal by the simply splendid work of her pianist, Dr. Peter Henderson, keyboardist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. His work is distinguished by crisp articulation, absolute accuracy, in perfect coordination and balance. He can take on very exciting rhythmic activity or superb tranquillity as the wide range of these works requires. In this regard, special mention should be made of Mark Hayes' I feel the spirit moving, which treats That old-time religion and Every time I feel the spirit.

Fred Onovwerosuoke has been revealing himself as a musical polymath for at least two decades: an administrator, conductor, philosopher, record producer, and music publisher -- all first-rate. He has taken these melodies from Gambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroun, and Congo, where they originally served social functions, and set them as art songs, totally worthy of inclusion on programs of any singer wishing to enrich the repertoire. Acquiring the music is not a problem. The cycle of his twelve songs excerpted here is scheduled for publication this year by Oxford University Press. And those wishing to book the singer for engagements need only express their interest to lucashudson@gmail.com.

Dr. Onovwerosuoke has kindly provided the following texts, which are not available with the recording. Following these is the foreword to the song cycle, contributed by the patriarch of modern musicology, Dr. J. H. Kwabena Nketia. [AfriClassical will post the texts and the foreword separately.]